The Legend of Cirrus: The Mana Sword
by Amerise Rei
Summary: My take on the Secret of Mana...wa twist. The names have been altered (as a Freshmen in H.S. I was concerned about copyright infringments [so sue me!] but it's practically the same as the game) I plan on making alterations to the story after setting the
1. A Moonlit Rendezvous

Late Night Rendezvous

The Moon shone brightly as the heavens darken. A shadow impelled swiftly through the forest, lead by the soothing rays on the moon's light. The silhouette was guided to a tranquil lake, disturbed only by the sound of surging water along side of a giant log bridge. The loud roaring from the falls could be heard all the way down to the village down the ravine under the falls. On the opposite side of the tedious trestle, two figures concealed in the darkness await their visitor patiently. The tallest of the pair stepped out of the shadows revealing a tall, round boy in his mid-Teens with hazel brown eyes and golden brown hair all slicked back. He wore green baggy pants and a white long sleeve shirt. The person behind him then stepped out of the shadows showing a much shorter, slimmer figure, both younger and has emerald green eyes encircled by a saffron ring. He wore yellow-green overalls and a yellow long sleeve shirt with a matching elf' hat caressing his blonde hair.

"You're late, Terran." The first person spoke softly but loud enough to hear through the crashing of the falls. Terran stepped out of the darkness revealing a tall, well built (not too feeble-looking and not too muscle bound) teenager wearing a blue tanktop with a navy-blue baggy jeans. He has jet-black, shoulder-length hair, highlighted with a hint of umber, tied back with a strip of leather. Two loose locks of shorter hair were lingering by his ears and cheeks, while his long bangs shielded his left deep ocean blue eyes.

Terran stepped on the wet, slick surface of the enormous log and took a couple steps closer to his friends. Steadily, yet cautiously, he approached the two boys and takes a glimpse down at the fall's base into the mist. Terran was becoming dizzy at the sight and he quickly snapped his eyes back to the front of him. He took another step and almost slipped on some moss that has grown on the log over the years in the moist environment.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!!" Terran yelled, a bit startled.

"Shh! Did you forget that the Elder could hear us from all the way up here? If he does, he'll get really mad," the first boy said cautiously

"Hey! Why did you have to choose such a high place to meet?!" Terran asked angrily as he tried to keep his balance.

"Shh!!"

"Xeth, I told you it was a bad idea to invite a klutz like him alone with us, "whispered the second boy. "Plus, he just might blow our cover and the Elder will find out. You know, I once heard someone in the village say that there was a flashing coming from the falls. Maybe there are spirits around here. Let's leave before we meet one" the second boy joined the conversation a bit uneasy.

"Saffron, you actually believe in that nonsense?"Xeth asked rudely. "Only babies are scared of those types of things. I once heard my grandmother say something about seeing flashes around the base of the falls, but I highly doubt that ghost are around here."

"Maybe there is some sort of treasure down there." Saffron outbursts.

"Yeah..! Then, when we find it, we'll become rich!" Xeth shouted with enthusiasm.

"I don't mean to spoil your fun guys, but...don't ya think it's kind of dark for that?" Terran asked sarcastically and cautiously, for he doesn't want to anger his short-tempered friend, Xeth.

"Why? Are you...chicken?"Xeth asked, trying to look for trouble.

"No, not even one bit!" Terran replied, with a hint of anger in his voice. "Besides, if the flashes were at the falls behind us, you'd be able to see the light flickering brightly in the night's sky! Also, it would be much easier to look for this so-called 'treasure' during the daytime when you can actually see out own feet in front of us."

"That's true, Xeth, since this is the night we should see the flashes clearly and brightly." Saffron commented.

"Now that I think of it, it has to be true." Xeth said in agreement. "You know what? You're a lot smarter than you look, Saffron."

"Well, what can I say?" Saffron replied confidently, looking very smug

"AHEM!!" Terran interrupted Saffron's in his delusional stage, while looking really pissed off at the two of them. " I just said that exact same line a minute ago, you mimic!!"

"Terran! You should be ashamed of yourself trying to take the credit of something Saffron said!" Xeth said, lecturing Terran.

"Maybe, if you actually listened to what I say, you just might of heard me say it in the first place! Oh, and I don't need a lecture from the likes of you. If I wanted one I could have gone to school to get one or just stayed home until the Elder lectured me non-stop. Just for the record, I said that exact same thing for crying out loud!"

"Well, actually what you said was ' Besides, if the flashes were at the falls behind us, you'd be able to see the light flickering brightly in the night's sky!' while I said--"

"I know what you said and I know exactly what I said, but the point is that you got credit for something I said!!" Terran interrupted Saffron in an outburst.

"Okay, okay, okay, you don't have to get all upset about this! Jeez! And I thought that Xeth was bad when he gets upset! Saffron thought the last line to himself.

"Hey! What do you mean by that?!"

"Um, what are...you talking about?"

"That comment you just made about me!!!"

"Heh, heh, heh...which comment?"

"You mean there is more than one?!"

"Heh...heh...heh..."

"Argh, Forget about! I'm talking about that comment you made when you said 'I was worse than Xeth'!!!"

"Heh, heh, heh...you...heard that?"

"Of course I did! Loud and CLEAR!" The two teenagers continued to fight and argue while Xeth just stood there and listened to them, wondering why they kept on referring to him.

After an hour of fighting they went their separate ways but they all ended up at Celedon Village. Before each of them made their way to their homes on different sides of the village, they all met at the one corner of the village where it was out of sight and surrounded by trees. There, they discussed meeting each other at the very same spot, right after lunch. Afterwards, they all agreed on the meeting place, they once again went their separate ways as quickly and as quietly as possible.

Terran was the last to leave, as he say his friends go on their different paths, he then yawned and headed for home very weary. He quietly entered the house and tried to close the door as softly as possible, but he soon found that it couldn't be done without a few tiny creeks. Silently, he crept down the stairs and sighed in relief when all of a sudden, the lantern sitting on a stand by this bed flickered on.

"Uh-Oh!"

" 'Uh-Oh!' is correct my boy" stated an in an angry gruff voice of an older man.


	2. Caught!

Caught!  
  
"Heh, heh, heh..." Terran laughed uncomfortably as he absently rubbed the back of his neck in a nervous habit. "I was...going for a walk...because I couldn't get any rest."  
  
"Uh-huh..." The Elderly man looked at his grandson in disbelief. I may be old but I'm not so old I can't tell when he is telling me a falsehood The Elder thought to himself.  
  
Shoot! He did not buy it! Terran thought as he heard his grandfather's thoughts.  
  
"So tell me Terran, do you know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the morning, to check up on your grandson that is supposed to be sleeping in his warm bed only to find that he's missing?!" His voice thundered "DO YOU!?! I'll tell you this much, if I'd've had a weak heart, you would have given your poor grandfather here, a heart attack a long time ago! Heh, a walk, MY FOOT!! I bet you went to see your friends, huh? I even bet you went to meet them at the falls again, didn't you?! They are from the same village for crying out loud! Can't you meet them anywhere safer?! I've told you time and time again, not to got there and what do you do? You disobey me! When I was your age, I always listened to my parents and grandparents. I--"  
  
SNORING  
  
The Elder looked at this grandson and saw that he was fast asleep. He then went up to Terran's ear and yelled...  
  
"WAKE UP YOU, LAZY IDIOT!!"  
  
With that Terran shouted from being startled and his eyes popped open. He sat up straight, waiting for another tiring lecture to begin.  
  
"Fall asleep while I'm talking, huh?" The Elderly man grumbled to himself. "We shall continue this conversation tomorrow and I will state your punishment then. Good night!"  
  
The instant that Terran's elderly guardian was out of sight, he stuck out his tongue and replied sarcastically, "If I wanted to learn about ancient society, I could of gone to school today or the rest of the week for that matter and heard this lecture from the teacher!"  
  
Then his grandfather's head poked in through the doorway just counting on his grandson's smart allelic attitude to kick in so there can be more punishments to give out and answered with: "I heard that and that will add to your list of chores for you to do tomorrow!"  
  
Terran slipped under his covers of his bed and sulked the rest of the night. The next morning, Terran's grandfather woke him up a couple of hours earlier than usual and gave him two lists.  
  
"Here! One list is for your chores and the other is for the errands I want you to run for me. I want everything done TODAY!  
  
"Aww...that will take me most of the day!" Terran complained.  
  
"I know! HA! Oh, I almost forgot, I told some of the store clerks of the village that you would deliver things for them." Ha! I guess being the Elder of a village does have an upper hand in it. Especially when it comes to giving out punishments to my grandson.  
  
"I heard that!!" Terran yelled.  
  
"Huh? But how...? Oh, how can I forget? I have been living with him for 16 years and he has been able to do that ever since he was little. Humph! No more privacy that a gold fish! Mumble mumble  
  
Terran also mumbled and complained with tending to all the chores he was given. He has to tend to the animals, work out in the field, house cleaning, and more. He was a fast worker but was very exhausted by the time lunch came and was glad to rest during that period of time. After he ate, he continued to finish his chores and started his errands. He had to pick up a lot of things from the stores and drop them off at home continuously, which he thought was a pain in the butt, but he also had to deliver thing for the clerks as a favor from the Elder.  
  
Three hours past before he finished everything but he felt as if he had forgotten something so he sat down and tried to remember what it was he forgot to do. Then suddenly, it hit him like a ton of bricks.  
  
"Damn! I was s'posed to meet the guys a long time ago!" Terran shouted as he just remembered what was to be done.  
  
Now running through the forest and zigzagging through trees, he then followed a stream from the waterfalls and followed it all the way up. When he arrived he noticed his two friends sleeping against their own tree.  
  
"H-hey guys!" Terran yelled to wake them from their slumber.  
  
"(YAWN!) You're late... again, Terran." Xeth said still half asleep.  
  
"I couldn't help it!" Terran tried to explain. "Last night, grandfather caught me sneaking in and he gave me chores and errands to run for him and not to mention almost everyone else in the village. He wouldn't let me go till I was completed with everything. I'm not supposed to here and neither should you guys, so I say we hurry and search for the flashes and get out of here before they start to suspect anything."  
  
"Speaking of flashing..."Saffron, added, "...why can't we see them now?"  
  
"Maybe they flash only during a certain time of the day," Xeth proposed.  
  
"Well let's got and search for it in a specific area and see if there is any treasure to be found!"  
  
"Alright let's go then!"  
  
Terran's two friends starting off with out him leaving him in the alone in the middle of the long narrow bridge. He struggled across the treacherous bridge and watched his friends leave without him. Desperately trying to catch up, he walked on a slippery part of the log and found himself dangling on a broken branch.  
  
"Heeeeeelp!!!"  
  
His friends turned to help but couldn't because the log is skinny and narrow to walk across. Terran started to loosen his grip but it really didn't matter because the branch was giving away.  
  
(SNAP!)  
  
"GYAAA!!"  
  
The two boys stared in horror as their companion fell to the base of the falls. They then couldn't see him as he disappeared in the mist. Each looked at each other with fear in their eyes and ran towards the village.

Author's Note:

Sorry for the delay and the bad format everyone. I'm just getting to learn how to use the program for editing and pulling out lots of hair in the process. A warning ahead of time: I'm not going to strictly stick to the plot of SoM and add some storylines from other RPG's, mainly BoF (Breath of Fire) I & II. I appologize if you were all hoping for it to purely be SoM and only SoM but, I wrote this story for an assignment and pretty much had the majority of the plot in my head already.


	3. Secret Behind the Flashes

The Secret Behind the Mysterious Flashes

Terran watched in slow motion as the reflective surface came upon him as he smacked through it with a loud SPLASH! He quickly regained his bearings and swam for the surface; gasping for air he didn't know he had time to intake before the big plunge. Lucky for him, the base was deep enough for him not to get any major injuries.  
  
"Oww!" Terran groaned in pain from hitting the water. "Looks like there is no way back up there." He said supporting his neck while looking directly up the falls.  
  
Walking out of the small lagoon, Terran found himself in a very green forest and followed a path from the falls going up towards the valley, leading to the village. While walking the path to Celedon, Terran heard someone call his name.  
  
"Terran...Terran..."  
  
"Huh? What was that?" he asked in confusion.  
  
He continued to walk the path toward the village, when he heard the very same voice again calling him.  
  
"Terran...Terran..."  
  
Terran then decided to follow the voice and see why that person was calling him. He heard the voice echoed from behind the falls. Terran followed a stray path leading towards a cave behind the falls where he saw a faint light flickering. As he got closer to the light, it glowed brighter by the moment. The voice started to call him once again and so he followed the voice in to the dark and damp cave. He came closer and closer to the flashes and walked further in where the light radiated from within. Terran was is awe when he entered the cavern besieged with crystals, prisms, and gems of different hues that glinted as light seeped through the summit less cavern. He continued to take it his surroundings and observer the different textures and brilliance of each color.  
  
Terran scanned the cavern to see everything around him when his attention turned to the sunlight penetrating through the roofless cave and a single ray shinned directly on a rock. A mini waterfall trickled from an opening in the back wall not far from the rock where it surrounded it creating like a water barrier. On the rock, Terran noticed that there was an odd shape on top of it. It looked to be a dragon wrapping around figure of an elegant upside down "T" with a phoenix on one side and a tiger on the other. It had a mirror like surface on the bottom and seemed to be attached to the rock. As he got closer to the rock he noticed that a dragon was a part of the hilt of a sword.  
  
Terran stared at it in awe for a few seconds as a stream of light from a small breach in the cave's roof reflected upon the blade's shiny surface and illuminated with a blinding luster within the cave's cavity. He raised his forearm before his eyes to shield it from the brilliance of the shine that engulfed him and escaped through all the openings of the cave.  
  
After a few blinding moments, Terran unshielded his eyes and beheld the sword before him.  
  
"Huh? What is this sword doing here?" Terran asked himself.  
  
"Terran...the sword..." The mysterious voice rang again.  
  
"Huh? W-who's there?"  
  
In answer to Terran's question a transparent figure in armor appeared before him.  
  
"Gyaa! A g-ghost!!" He yelled startled at the sight before him.  
  
"Terran...pull out the sword..." It said in a shivery type of a voice.  
  
Terran tentatively reached for the hilt of the sword not wanting to defy a super natural being and started to try and pull it out of the rock.  
  
"Rrrrrarrr!"  
  
Terran pulled with all his might to get the sword out of the boulder. He gathered all his strength and pulled at it with everything he had, when it finally came out with a sharp echoing PING!  
  
As Terran tried to catch his breath, he noticed that the sword started to glow and realized that his was the source of all those glints during the day. All of a sudden, there was a bright, blinding flash and Terran had to shield his eyes as the light filled the whole came and out in to the evening sky.  
  
"Jeez! What the hell was that?!" Terran asked not even sure himself what had just happened.  
  
When he took a closer look at the source of all the light, he noticed what was once a "T "shaped hilt turned in to an "l" shaped hilt with a dragon wrapped around it.  
  
"Huh?! W-what just happened to this thing?!" He demanded with his eyes staring wide open examining it.  
  
He found that each side of the sword was missing and now made it look like a dagger that seemed to have been enlarged to the size of a regular sword. Terran also noticed that the Phoenix and the tiger on the missing sides must have shattered with the sides of the sword.  
  
"I can figure out what happened to this sword later. For the moment I have to find a way back to Celedon Village."  
  
Terran exited the cave and tried to find the path that he was on to get there, but somehow it had vanished. All that was left was a rocky ridge at the mouth of the cave and a narrow path leading towards the base of the falls. At one point, Terran thought that the easiest way to get down might be to jump off the ridge he was standing on and back into the little lagoon he had first climbed out of when he fell off the log bridge. Then he considered that if the path toward the mystical cavern had disappeared without a trace, then maybe the depth of the water or all the water for that matter may go just as fast. Terran could just imagine it happening to him:  
  
With one leap he felt as free as a bird and in a position for a perfect dive. He was now ready for the lagoon water to engulf him and so he closed his eyes to set ready for a splash. After waiting a couple of seconds, wondering why he wasn't caressed with the pure waters of the lagoon. Terran opens his eyes to find nothing but a giant ditch with rocks scattered at the bottom.  
  
"What the...?! He exclaimed as he noticed his surrounding. "GYAAAA!!"  
  
Trying hard to flap his arms thinking he could fly but decided in a split second that the next best thing would be to try not to land on his head. Desperately trying to flip around so he could land on his feet. The best he could do was turning him up to the point where it looked like he was going to lay on his stomach. After all his desperate attempts to land on his feet, he body slams onto the rocky earth below him.  
  
(POW!!)  
  
Terran went face first into a flat rock about a couple of inches before his body crashed into the bottom of the lagoon. Struggling to get to his feet, he grins widely after he was up and all that was left of his teeth was two front on the top and one on each side of the bottom. He could now see mini rocks started to prance around his head and banging against him every couple of prances making him dizzier. After swatting away the dancing granite, he happened to notice a shadow coming toward his direction.  
  
(SMACK!! )  
  
The hilt of his sword crashed into his face creating a dragon imprint on his face. Before he would go unconsciencious for an hour or so, with his vast imagination, he pictured the Chinese-styled dragons' dancing around his head as the rocks did and hitting him with a Katana (sword) and causing him to go unconscience yet again.  
  
Terran now coming back to Cirrus for a reality check, confirmed that diving into the Lagoon was defiantly a BAD idea.  
  
Carefully, Terran walked along the narrow way leading to the bank of the lagoon, clinging to the rocks for dear life itself. After a long climb down the steep valley's pathway, he then made it to the base of the falls. Now at the banks of the lagoon he stared down into the clear waters when he noticed a dark patch reflecting off the waters. He tried to look behind the falls to see the unknown dark patch but only found mounds of rocks at the reflection of the water and saw the dark patch again and realized that is was a cave. Rubbing his eyes to se if his eyes were playing tricks on him and took another glimpse behind the falls and found nothing but the same boulder at the entrance. Not sure on what he is seeing, he checked the reflection of the cave in the lagoon surface and to his dismay he saw...nothing.  
  
"Jeez, I think I hit my head a lot harder than I thought when I fell from the bridge," he commented while taping his head a couple of times trying to get the unclear image in this head out of his mind.  
  
Terran looked at the sky and noticed all the different hues.  
  
"It's getting kind of late and everyone'll be worried." He said in a worried tone in his voice.  
  
Looking at his surroundings to continue his original path that he was on before he got distracted by the calls. He turned his back for a second but when he looked back there was a new path but it seemed to be blocked by weeds, bushes, and ivy.  
  
"What the...? That was not there before I turned around. Jeez, this place is really creepy. It's no wonder no one ever comes here!"  
  
Terran decided to see where the path leads to, so he tried to get through the thick shrubbery. He noticed that it was on top of a hill leading a windy read to Celedon. Realizing that, that was an even faster and closer path to home he tried to shove his way through the massive bushes and pricked and scrapped himself in the process.  
  
"Ow! What the..THORNS!!" He yelled as he gave an evil look at the cursed bushes.  
  
Terran had an idea and took his blade out from his belt, where he kept it from falling while ascending the rocky ridge. He then held it up high and exclaimed "Ah-ha! Now it's payback!! Heh-heh-heh-!"  
  
With that he went on a frenzy to get revenge over the ones who scratched him.  
  
"Ha! That'll teach ya to mess with someone who is armed with a...old, rusted, sword..." He said as he looked confused at the old rusty sword. "Man, this thing has rust on it from hilt to tip. I'm surprised that this thing could even glow with all that crud on it. I'm even surprised that, that thing can do so much damage to those shrubs in the condition this is in."  
  
Now that he cleared the path he headed down towards the village with the blade in his possession. On the way down he saw a fish like creature with a brilliant yellow color standing in his path when it suddenly attacked him with one giant leap.  
  
"Huh?" he asked as he got back to his feet. "What are Rabbyth's doing here? They are pretty weak animals but I won't take any chances. "  
  
Terran took his sword and with one quick swipe he vanquished the "Rabbyths." As he continued the trails he found more and more Rabbyths appear. One by one with a quick fluid lash, he subdued the fish creatures. After walking a few meters and killing a Rabbyth every step of the way he finally found a sign that said "Celedon Village -- " and marched onward.

* * *

Author's Note

Sorry it took so long to get things to look a bit decent. I'm still trying to edit and format the story.

I'm still planning on making it a crossover but mainly sticking to the SoM storyline. If crossovers are not your cup of tea, I apologize for not mentioning this before in the first chapter.

If you notice some major grammatical errors, please let me know. I know I'm not the best at spelling and grammer so it would be a lot of help .................... ........oh, and review. Don't be afraid to tear my story to shreds. I could care less but most of the time the criticism is very constructive to help me along. Don't take it to heart if I don't always do as you say though.

TTFN

Amerise Rei


	4. The Heat of Battle within Celedon's Boar...

Waging Battles at Home

Relieved that he was finally home again, Terran slung the sword at his side before entering the Celedon's boundaries. On the way in, the first house he passed was Xeth's house and saw that his grandmother was staring into space, literally, with a worried expression on her face. When She snapped out of it she greeted Terran.  
  
"Oh, hello, Terran. My grandson and Saffron were worried about you and they went to go and see if you were at the Elders..."  
  
"Is something the matter?" Terran asked in concern, also looking toward the sky to try and see what she was looking at.  
  
"...By...any chance, did you see that Terran?"  
  
"See what?"  
  
"Well, a few minutes ago something lit up the sky near the falls. Normally, I would see it shine for a few seconds the same time everyday. It was on time today, but shortly after there was another, only this time, it lit up the whole sky for a few seconds. I...just have a bad feeling about this."  
  
Terran had a sinking feeling inside of him after hearing that. The village was clear above the cave on a hill and from the position he was standing, Terran could clearly see the blue lagoon and cave that all the 'flashes' and 'shines' originate from down in the distance. His stomach churned uneasily as he continuted to stare down at the blue blot the size of two hand spans and the ominous shadows casted upon it by the surrounding rocks. Terran was finally able to pry his eyes from the valley and noded his farewell to his friends matriarch.  
  
"Maybe...that's all that happened...A giant flash, that's all." He told himself, unsure of the situation that may about from it.  
  
While walking to the elders, he stumbled upon one of the boys of the village.  
  
"There's a strange man in there." He said and opened the door and pointed to an armored man sitting at a table, in the restaurant.  
  
Terran went to greet the new comer as was a village tradition, but one look at armored man told him that he wasn't in much of a talking mood so he left him alone.  
  
"Hey, Terran!" A voice called from behind the counter and said, "I think that guy's from the army because of the emblem that was on his chest plate. Most likely a high ranking officer from another country. He's the silent type and even I couldn't get him to break his silence. Oh, by the way, Xeth was here a while ago and looked kind of pale and looked as if he would faint. What happened? Did you boys do something wrong _again_?"  
  
"It's a long story. We'll see what happens." Terran replied plainly.  
  
Terran exited the restaurant, finding himself in front of a house where he felt safe and didn't have to worry about the events that occurred today ever again...or so he thought. As he approached the front of his home, he noticed that Xeth and Saffron were talking to his grandfather. As Terran got closer to the group of people standing in front of his house, the Elder began to realize that it was Terran (though it took a while with his bad eyes and old age, that is). He ran to Terran as fast as he could (which wasn't that fast at all, mind you he has brittle bones and yet, again, old age) to his Grandson.  
  
"Terran! You're not hurt! They told me what happened to you." The Elder said happily noting that not a single strand of hair on his head was harmed  
  
"For a second, I thought you were a goner!" Cried Xeth as he was on his knees and groveling at Terran's feet.  
  
"See!! What did I tell you?! It was a stupid idea to bring someone HIM along with us!!" Saffron substantiated towards the kneeling Xeth and whacked him with the back of his hand as an emphasis.  
  
"You IDIOTS!!" The Elder outbursts." Weren't you told not to go there? Now, when I was your age..."  
  
The three boys hung their head in shame and expected the "When-I-Was-Your-Age" lecture coming up again. Terran moved slightly to the side (getting comfortable for the long winded speech) and caused shimmering light came from his side as a ray from the sun reflected off of the sword and cut the Elder in the middle of his speech.  
  
"Huh?" The Elder asked as hi looked closer at the object that hung around Terran's belt.  
  
"Terran! What's that you have?...Oh,no! It can't be!  
  
"Cool! Did you find treasure?!" Xeth questioned his NEW best friend as he got off his knees.  
  
"Wow!" Saffron exclaimed. "Way to go!"  
  
These comments only made the Elder even more furious and he outbursts,  
  
"What have you done?! How could you of all people in the whole would have pulled out the Mana Sword?! It's just impossible!"  
  
"What?! The Mana Sword?! But how? Legend has it that our village would be finish..." Saffron recited.  
  
"...If the sword is removed and here is now...in front of us!" The Elder said continuing Saffron's sentence. "It is said that 'the Mana Sword has been protecting this Village from disaster! Three Ancient beings: the Tigress Byakko, the Dragon Ryu, and the Phoenix Ruhka, on the sword are what create the balance that keeps Cirrus from Catastrophe. If it is shattered, darkness, havoc, and tyranny shall be run rampant upon the Pure Lands of Cirrus.' "  
  
The Elder now takes the blade from Terran and holds it up showing the hilt were instead of Three Ancient Beings, there is only the One Ancient Being of the Dragon.  
  
"Ah! Here it is the one Ancient Being, so there is nothing to fear! All Terran has to do is find a way to return the sword to the resting place he found it and all will be well...Wait a minute..." The Elder took a closer look at the hilt and his eyes just about poped out of his socket

_**"ONE?!"**_ The Elder yelled as he grabbed Terran by the collar of his shirt and shook him rapidly yelling,  
  
"What did you do to this Sword Boy!?!  
  
"Gya-a-a..." Terran responded only by saying that until his grandfather got control over himself. "Jeez! I don't know what you're talking about, Gramps! I didn't do anything but pull out the sword. After the light started to flash, I, then and only then, noticed that it was missing the Tigress and Crane!"  
  
"Phoenix!" The Elder corrected his grandson irately.  
  
"Well, whatever!" He continued, "And that was after I found a path to the Village and stumbled upon some 'Rabbyths'."  
  
"So, that's it!" Xeth finally joined the conversation after a long period of silence. "That's why all those monsters appeared out of nowhere and started to attack us. How could an outsider like you go and yank the Mana Sword; creating discord upon our quiet Village and lead all of Cirrus in to peril, all in one day, huh?!"  
  
Xeth started to push around Terran roughly and caused him to stumble after each shove.  
  
"Hey! Quit it!" Terran exclaimed loosing his patience.  
  
"You started this whole mess! It's all your fault that we are getting attacked by monsters." Xeth yelled forcefully still shoving Terran until they were in the very vacant center of the Village.  
  
The vacant lot of the Village designated for the villagers to meet and have occasional conferences was, amougst the younger generation, furtively desinated for the sole purpose of "Settling disagreements" in a physical manner; As is the case with these two teenagers.

Xeth continued to push Terran to the vacant lot and was eager to take Terran on. Terran took up a fighting stance, which is all to familiar to him, having experienced Xeth anger. As Xeth was about to punch him, Terran was ready to dodge his jab, a rapid earthquake shook the village and startled all within the vicinity of the epicenter.  
  
"Ahh!! Earthquake!!" Xeth screamed and he dropped to the ground with his hands behind his neck like what they taught you in school.  
  
"Duh! Head for cover moron! This is no time to be testing out the "Drop and Cover" technique when there is nothing to cover you!!" Terran scolded Xeth sarcastically.  
  
Terran then tried to help his friend up but refused to be helped by a "traitor" of the Village. As Xeth got up to go in the opposite direction of Terran, he felt the ground beneath him tremor rapidly. Terran ran back to get his stubborn friend, when suddenly, a whole appeared beneath his feet and he just fell through the ground, only hearing his yell echo.

Terran noticed that Xeth fell in a huge hole in the ground, and it grew bigger by the moment. He ran as fast as he could when the ground behind him collapsed and realized that he wasn't going to get away fast enough. Soon the ground around him started to collapse and he soon joined Xeth underground. Terran looked around for him when he heard Xeth holler,  
  
"Heeelp! A m-monster! Heeeeelp!!"  
  
With that Terran ran the direction of the yell as fast as he could to try and aid his friend. When he appeared before Xeth and the monster, it looked like a fat, giant Praying Mantis with extra large claws.  
  
"Terran, do something!!" Xeth yelled  
  
"What can I do?!"  
  
"Y-you have a sword don't you?!"  
  
"Yeah so?!"  
  
"Well?! Use it!!"  
  
"Hey I may have a sword but, I have never used a sword in my entire life...Well, if you don't count me slaughtering the Rabbyths "  
  
"Well, there's a first time for anything!!" Terran stated with a grim finality and firmly gripped his sword with a new found courage towards the upcoming battle.

* * *

Author's Note

As you can all see, I'm relying heavily on beginning storyline of SoM to get he foundation of this story done. Bear with me as I sluggishly try and branch out the story and develope the the plot more.

Okay, this is the last time I'm going to apologize (yeah...right), but I'm sorry that it took so long for the updating. I'll try and be on top of things and get out one chapter at least once a month or every other month. If I start to slack, you can bombard my mail box will flames or whatever as a reminder.

Thanks for reading so far (why you would do so is beyond me).

Respectfully,

Amerise Rei


End file.
